Anglo-Turkish Relations in the Interwar Era
| Author: | Stillwell, Stephen J., Jr. | |
| Year: | 2003 | |
| Pages: | 373 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-6776-9 978-0-7734-6776-7 | |
| Price: | $239.95 + shipping | |
| (Click the PayPal button to buy) | ||
This volume explores the influence wielded by the British Empire in the council chambers of the League of Nations. Using three separate issues (the Mosul Vilayet, the Maritza Delta, and the Sanjak of Alexandretta), all connected to the establishment of the borders of the new republic of Turkey, this study shows the importance of those decisions in the world today. Those borders now respectively represent the borders between Turkey and Iraq, Greece, and Syria. The placement of the boundaries influenced the division of minority groups between countries, the control of oil fields and pipelines, and maritime access and the domination of potential choke-points. The text has many maps and charts, and a substantial bibliography on interwar British imperial policy and the League of Nations.
Reviews
“In this monograph, Stillwell revisits key disputes between Turkey and its neighbors that confronted the League of Nations … The scope of the sources contained in the work is, at the very least, prodigious. Minutes of the League Council and various commission meetings along with letters and memoirs of diplomats directly involved in the negotiations support the assumptions made concerning the furtherance of the British imperial agenda. Beyond these sources, though, the reader finds copious appendices that list the key members of British government and the delegates and commissioners of the League as well as useful maps and exhaustive secondary sources … The conclusion that Britain used the League as an extension of its foreign policy is abundantly clear. And it is equally clear that the lessons offered by the failure of the League of Nations are still relevant.” – Professor Georgia A. Mann, North Georgia College & State University
“…he persuasively argues that the British government used the newly created League of Nations to achieve imperial objectives. Stillwell demonstrates that Britain exploited three sets of negotiations over the post-world War One Turkish borders to protect its own interests … Britain always claimed to act on the behalf of the local people, but Stillwell examines Cabinet minutes, foreign Office Records and Colonial Office Records to dispel this myth.” – Dr. Glen Melancon, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
“…he persuasively argues that the British government used the newly created League of Nations to achieve imperial objectives. Stillwell demonstrates that Britain exploited three sets of negotiations over the post-world War One Turkish borders to protect its own interests … Britain always claimed to act on the behalf of the local people, but Stillwell examines Cabinet minutes, foreign Office Records and Colonial Office Records to dispel this myth.” – Dr. Glen Melancon, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Table of Contents
Foreword; Preface
1. Introduction
2. Britain and Turkey
3. The Great War and After
4. The League
5. The Mosul Vilayet
6. The Maritza Valley
7. The Sanjak of Alexandretta
8. Conclusions
Appendices; Resources; Index